How to Shoot Macro Photos at Night!
Shooting macro shots of nocturnal wildlife is no easy task with many, often difficult challenges. Yet, it's one of the most unique approaches to capturing the natural world. Bringing it forward in a perspective like no other, and one that is rarely seen.
I'm Jameson Hawkins-Kimmel, and I've had a lot of experience with macro photography at night. I've written this post to share my best tips and techniques of one of my favorite passions. My goal is that by the end of reading this in it's entirety, you can be as successful as I've been!
Now, let's review the essential components to capture those perfect night time photos!
#1: Compositions and Telling a Story
When focusing on compositions, remember that you have to get creative. An idea that may help you capture strong compositions is to think as if you were photographing the subject in the daytime. Make sure to consider what the light will look like. What angle has a natural appearance? These are two critical points to consider as the very last thing you want to do is over or underexpose the picture or having a terribly unnatural lighting angle. Whenever the light doesn't look right or the exposure isn't perfect, innovate and try again with a different strategy and approach. It's very important to have intriguing compositions as part of the frame. Now let's examine these photos I took as examples:


By comparing these two images, you'll notice the first example captures more detail and the second example is a bit more artistic. When encountering a subject, definitely shoot both a wide-angle photo and a close up, giving yourself more variety in your photos!
Now to further broaden the potential of your compositions, definitely try exposing the background and the surrounding environment. The whole point of nocturnal macro photography is to bring forward the species that is often overlooked or not seen at all! So properly exposing your subject's surrounding environment will help describe the habitat that the species lives in.


Here's another helpful tip to follow on the subject itself. By examining the bottom image above, we can see that it visually tells a broader story than the close-up photo, upper above. The first example is nice to look at, as closer up photos can often make the observer feel like they're that close, but you should concentrate on wider angles to showcase more than just your subject. The above photo is more complex, has better composition and more dramatic lighting. In the field you should always consider wider angles. It provides an extensive variety to your portfolio and it also enhances your skills as a photographer. Requiring you to learn how to read the surroundings, backdrops, and compositions so you can incorporate a splash of creativity to your photos.
#2: Creative Close-ups
Close-ups can still be very creative and unique photographs. All it takes is a creative eye and knowing how best to present an intriguing angle to the viewer. My Tree Frog photograph I presented above is a mediocre photograph in my opinion. It's poorly lit and too shaded. If your goal is to capture a great close-up, I think it's important to keep the subject in very clear view. However, it's a bad idea to just put the camera up near your subject's face area and call it good. Your viewers likely won't appreciate your work as much because there's not much originality, it's likely something they've already seen before. This is a common issue that needs to be overcome. I always like to think of my subject (and it's surrounding environment) as a blank canvas. It allows me to create whatever I want in the manner I like to illustrate or picture. Make sure to analyze every angle, take your time (if possible, not all subjects stay still for long), and get creative with lighting. This will definitely help you capture more originality and your photographs will show it!

Often times it's hard to create something new, as there's so many images out there that are similar. But changing just the smallest feature to the shot can make all the difference. For instance, in the photo above rather than focusing just on the salamander's body, I decided to place my subject in the bottom corner of the frame, blurring the entire background giving it a cool effect, that's not often seen. While using the environment is a very important tool in capturing great photographs, many times it's not in your favor and sometimes it will restrict your shot! That's why using flash to dramatically light your subject is also very important. You can't always rely on the environment. Perhaps the easiest of ways to give your close-ups a more tranquil feel is to side light your subject.

Take a look at my photo above. Compared to the evenly distributed light across subjects that you would typically see in macro photos, my lighting angle above throws light out creating a mysterious feeling. Using one flash, I lit half the frog's body, setting the scene for a more dramatic shot. Now try to imagine this phot fully immersed in light! It would completely lack the dramatic effect I've created here. So, in circumstances when the surrounding environment is not ideal, this effect and approach can benefit you greatly.
#3: Highlighting the Environment
I've discussed and illustrated how to properly include the environment within the frame, but another technique I employ often can really have an impact on your macro photography! Highlighting your subject alongside it can produce very intriguing and unique photos! Having the subject as an element of it's environment is MUCH more interesting than photos that don't. Begin by using the environment for more than compositions. Try separating the environment as a story of it's own as part of the photo. This may sound complicated or even distracting, but it can be easy. Direct yourself to zooming out and focus on an artistic point of view.

This photo above, I created a situation to illustrate or capture the best of both worlds. By capturing the details of my subject and also the mesmerizing details and designs of nature and the habitat this salamander inhabits. This is what you should look for. Natural designs and layouts, compositions and backgrounds/foregrounds that can really make your viewers think and stay focused on your photograph, enjoying the moment and the setting where you captured the amazing image!
#4: Flash and Exposure Methods
There are many different ways to use flash as a main light in macro photography. Some of these methods are rather challenging while others are not. The easiest and most effective method is using one or multiple flashes and directly lighting your subject for even distribution of light output across the frame. You can create dark backgrounds, highlighted environment and naturally lit subjects. Make sure to always keep in mind that changing your shutter speed will not affect the flash exposure brightness/darkness in any way. The flash duration is much faster than the typical shutter speed you'd be using at this time of day. Adjusting your ISO and F-Stop, however, will absolutely affect the brightness/darkness of your photographs.

Once you are comfortable with this technique of evenly distributing light in your photos, try to create other effects in your images such as: rim-lighting, backlighting, shadows, good catchlight, and more. (please refer to my upcoming post on these topics!)
Just remember, one of the keys to perfecting these techniques is to not overexpose or underexpose your photo. What matters most is to capture powerful images that speak for themselves, and naturally-presented light is the most important. Too much brightness/darkness or a weird angle could throw off your viewers attention by the distraction.
Conclusion:
It's my goal to encourage and inspire more photographers to commit to photographing the natural and wild world that emerges at night! There are not many photographers that take truly inspiring photos of wildlife and their surrounds at night. Put these techniques to work so you can experience the challenge and joy of seeing and photographing an entirely new world of wildlife that are often unheard of and rarely photographed during the after dark hours. As The Brothers Wild, we aim to educate people about the great outdoors and the species that live there. Allowing us all to contribute to the importance of conservation. Nocturnal macro photography helps bring awareness to many species that are seldomly appreciated as much as other species. So wherever you are, it's important to take action. It all starts with getting out in the field and trying new things and start making a difference!
Good luck and I hope these tips help!
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